Modern & futuristic piano designs, that may become commonplace someday. Competition is forcing piano manufacturers to come up with innovative designs.
Roland Facet Grand Piano
At CES 2020, Roland unveiled a concept piano (futuristic digital grand piano) based on a design by contest winner Jong Chan Kim of Korea, who had won Roland’s Digital Piano Design Award back in 2015 with this pian design called “Facet.”
While it definitely looks futuristic and could make its way into a Hollywood futurist film with ease, Roland has no plans for mass production of this piano.
In the meanwhile, you may checkout Roland’s GP series digital grand, whichhas a much more traditional design.
EXXEO: Designer Piano with WOW! Factor
EXXEO, a new designer digital piano with state-of-the-art amplification, housed in stunning casework, is an award-winning art piece, a futuristic sculpture. Its meant for “Art collectors, entrepreneurs, and high net worth individuals with a progressive mindset who love music.”
“A hybrid piano combines electronic, mechanical and/or acoustical aspects of both acoustic and digital pianos, in order to improve or expand the capabilities of the resulting instrument/ Our goal was to create a fully customizable piano that fits seamlessly into our modern lifestyles – to design a musical instrument that extends its function to a three-dimensional sculpture to be in perfect harmony with its surroundings in the contemporary interior space,” explains the brainchild of Exxeo, Iman Maghsoudi, from his studio iMAN Design in Los Angeles.
The casework is made of carbon fibre composite, aerospace grade aluminium, and the piano also uses premium grade leather.
Japanese firms Kawai and Onkyo have helped in developing this piano. The keyboard uses Kawai’s Grand Feel II action with weighted wooden keys and triple sensor key detection.
You can control EXXEO’s extensive functionality via the 7 inch touchscreen display on the piano.
More on company’s website.
Kawai Crystal Grand Piano
Kawai CR40 Crystal Grand piano is made entirely (almost) of industrial-grade acrylic. The main USP of this piano is that you can see right ‘through’ the grand piano, and look at it’s inner workings. In terms of sound, its similar to a normal grand piano, but in terms of looks it quite different. Kawai produces only a few of these every year.
CRYSTAL GRAND PIANO
Length: 6’1″
Width: 59″
Weight: 935 lbs
Crystal Music founder, Peter Tol, says his custom pieces can cost from US$170,000 (RM709,000) to US$1million (RM4.17 million), according to reports.
Website: CR-40A
Japanese piano manufacturer kawai is participating in milan design week. The ‘crystal rain’, developed by light artist takahiro matsuo, centers around a crystal grand piano which floats upon undulating waves of water. Read more here.
Unique Coral Piano in transparent illuminated by neon LED lights
British furniture designer Dio Davies’ latest creation is a cool coral pink piano that looks as if its been taken out straight out of science fiction movie.
The bespoke Coral Piano is basically an Edelweiss piano enclosed inside a transparent shell, which can be illuminated by neon LED lights.
“I wanted to create the ultimate interactive experience, a sculpture that at the flick of a switch turns into a radiant and dramatic centre-piece, drawing you in both by sight and sound. It’s the piece of furniture that starts the party,” says Dio.
The piano is a player piano built with a self-play system that allows tracks to be played wirelessly from a concealed iPod and hidden speakers. A bank of precision electronic solenoids, invisibly built into it, accurately plays the selected music as originally recorded. The piano also uses a traditional piano’s mechanisms, the wooden hammers and leavers, and the classic black and white keys.
And what inspired him to create this uniquely designed piano?
“I took my love of films such as Tron and Blade Runner and their technological aesthetic – and the colours from my travels: tropical sunsets, flamingos and coral shells – and used crisp, dazzling acrylic to transform this hand-crafted artisan instrument into a vibrant work of art,” says Dio.
Dio collaborated with piano company Edelweiss, known for handcrafting self-playing, custom pianos from its Cambridge studio.
Hungarian Pianist Unveils New Concept Piano: Gives Classical Piano a Radical Makeover
Hungarian Pianist (and inventor) Gergely Boganyi recently unveiled his new concept piano, giving a radical makeover to the Classical Piano.
Made from carbon fiber, the team that designed the new piano feels that the sound of this new piano is better than that of the traditional keyboard instrument.
Named the ‘Wonder piano’, the team worked on its development for almost a decade and spent over a million dollars on its production. Its expected to be priced around 250000 dollars….No, it won’t hit the right notes on its own, you still need to learn to play it :).
Did you like the sound of the new piano? Let us know here.
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KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
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